Various embodiments relate to a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly, to a data storage device and a data writing method thereof.
Semiconductor memory devices may be classified as volatile memory devices and nonvolatile memory devices. Volatile memory devices generally perform read and write operations at high speed, and lose stored contents when powered off. In comparison, nonvolatile memory devices retain stored contents even after being powered off. Therefore, nonvolatile memory devices are generally used for storing contents to be retained regardless of whether they are powered on or off. An example of a nonvolatile memory device is flash memory, which is typically more highly integrated as compared to conventional electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), for example, and which may be suitable as part of a mass storage device.
Physical characteristics of flash memory may be different from those of a hard disk drive. For example, flash memory may not support physical overwriting. Further, in case of flash memory, an erase operation may be carried out by blocks, while a write operation may be performed by pages. Flash Translation Layer (FTL) may be used to overcome physical limitations of flash memory. Various FTL techniques have been proposed and developed.